Do you own a restaurant?
Sales Tax Defense LLC can help you if you have already been selected for a sales tax audit. Many restaurant operators feel that meeting with a sales tax auditor can be confusing, intimidating, and/or frustrating. We can meet with the sales tax auditor at our office so you don’t have to have contact with them or have the sales tax auditor disrupt your business. We can advocate on your behalf to obtain the most reasonable sales tax assessment, if anything is due at all. If a sales tax assessment is issued, we can work to minimize any potential penalties and interest.
The sales tax audit of a restaurant is more common than most people realize but more dangerous than most people realize, especially when you are not familiar with sales tax laws and how sales tax audits are conducted administratively. We can navigate you through the sales tax audit process.
Our staff of trained professionals have years of experience working with auditors and audits conducted on: businesses that receive mostly cash from customers, circumstances which could have an effect on a business (such as the renovation of a restaurant, variations in business due to seasons, industry norms which auditors may not be aware of, etc.), businesses with less than perfect records, and much, much more.
If the restaurant is not under audit there is nothing to worry about, right? WRONG! Don’t wait until the restaurant is selected for audit; proactive planning can help your business in many ways.
A problematic area for many restaurants being audited is recordkeeping. Every state has different recordkeeping rules. Many restaurant operators fail to maintain records and those that do often do not maintain adequate records. If your cash register or point-of-sale system is missing a detail Ð regardless of how small that detail may seem Ð it can leave the restaurant exposed. We can help make sure you are maintaining the proper books and records needed to support your sales tax reporting if you are selected for audit in the future.
Aside from audits, another area of concern is the amount of tax being collected. Failing to collect enough sales tax can lead to a sales tax assessment. Collecting too much sales tax can put you at a competitive disadvantage to other businesses in your industry who know what’s subject to sales tax and what’s not subject to sales tax. We can review the taxability of the food and drink you sell to make sure you are charging sales tax correctly.
What if you are not subject to audit but realize there has been a collection or remittance issue? Sales Tax Defense LLC can assist in those situations as well. By knowing what options are available to businesses in your circumstances, we can work with you to determine the best way to remedy a problem before it becomes a nightmare.
